GB2210662A

GB2210662A - A furniture hinge

Info

Publication number: GB2210662A
Application number: GB8823466A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alfred Grass
Original assignee: Grass GmbH
Current assignee: Grass GmbH
Priority date: 1987-10-06
Filing date: 1988-10-06
Publication date: 1989-06-14
Also published as: DE3733700C2; JPH01260185A; AT399195B; IT8883487A0; DE3744906C2; JP2654560B2; ATA247588A; IT1225984B; GB8823466D0; DE3733700A1; US4881297A

Description

2210664 A FURNITURE HINGE This invention relates to a furniture hinge

having a detent mechanism for engaging a hinge strap of the furniture hinge with a base plate thereof, the furniture hinge comprising a connecting casing, having articulated arms projecting therefrom, a cover bracket or the like being installed on free ends of the arms and a setting or like plate and a fastening plate screwed to the cover bracket with the fastening plate remote therefrom the base plate being fastened to the body of a piece of furniture and being in engagement with the fastening plate on the articulated arms, and the connecting casing being mounted on a door of the piece of furniture. The term 'door' as used herein includes within its scope, a shutter or a flap.

Such a hinge is located on the inner side of the piece of furniture between the door and the body thereof, the connecting casing being screwed into a recess on the inner side of the door. The casing has thereon pivots of said arms to which are coupled the hinge strap which is constructed as the cover bracket for the arms. The base plate is screwed to the body of the piece of furniture.

When a piece of furniture is delivered to a user the door is commonly supplied separately from the body, the connecting casing being on the door and the fastening plate on the inner side of said body. To assemble the piece of furniture, the user must install the door on the body. The user must, therefore, connect the base plate to the. fastening plate.

Hithereto, the fastening plate and the base plate have been coupled by pushing them one on the other slidably to engage them, along comparatively long sliding paths, it being difficult, therefore, to install the door on the furniture body. Also, the longitudinal guideways provided for this purpose must be precisely dimensioned, which increases the manufacturing cost of the furniture hinge.

It is an object of the invention to provide a furniture hinge which is easy to install, is structurally simple and in which the fastening plate and the base plate are self-locking in their engaged position.

This invention accordingly provides a furniture hinge having a detent mechanism for engaging a hinge strap of a furniture hinge with a base plate thereof, the furniture hinge comprising a connecting casing for fastening to a door of a piece of furniture, articulated arms projecting from said casing and having a cover bracket installed on free end parts of said arms, and 2 a setting plate and a fastening plate screwed to the cover bracket with the fastening plate remote therefrom, said base plate being secured to the body of the piece of furniture; wherein that the fastening plate has a hook- shaped retaining surface at one end thereof in forced locking engagement with a tapered surface of the base plate, a resiliently mounted rocker at the other end of the fastening plate having detent shoulders curved away from that end and being provided with detent projections bearing against sliding surfaces of the base plate, which are curved up towards the fastening plate.

The base and fastening plates - may be brought together in a direction almost at right angles one to the other for engagement with one with the other. The fastening plate is clipped perpendicularly on to the base plate after the fastening plate has been hooked on to the base plate, with the aid of the hook-shaped retaining surface, so that the customary technique of sliding the plates together, is avoided, whereby savings in production costs can be made because the provision of guiding grooves for the parts is no longer needed.

In a preferred embodiment, the rocker has a curved gripping flange extending through an opening in a flange of the fastening plate and is resiliently secured therein by means of a sleeve spring or the like.

The rocker advantageously has an outwardly projecting operating rod or handle for disengaging the fastening plate from the base plate with a lifting action.

In an advantageous embodiment, the detent projections of the rocker impinge approximately at right angles on the curved sliding surfaces of the base plate.

The detent projections act in such manner in the direction of externally originating forces acting on the hinge elements that the detent projections advantageously dig more firmly into the sliding surfaces of the base plate under load.

The base plate advantageously also has tapered end surfaces, which are placed in contact with, and bear against, associated inclined contact surfaces of the fastening plate.

As an assurance against relative longitudinal displacement of the fastening and the base plates, tapered engagement surfaces on the fastening plate and the base plate may be provided at their rear ends, that is to say, their ends remote from the hooked-shaped surface of the fastening plate and the co-operating tapered surface of the base plate.

3 In the preferred embodiment, the base plate has opposite lateral projections which engage in corresponding openings in the fastening plate.

These projections advantageously have lateral facets which slide along on lateral flanges of the fastening plate upon its engagement with the base plate.

In the preferred embodiment, the ends of the sliding surfaces of the base plate are formed as slide radii.

The detent shoulders of the rocker slide along said sliding surfaces upon the fastening plate being clipped on to the base plate, so that these parts are clipped to each other smoothly.

The rocker may be constructed in a resilient manner, in particular as a flexing or thigh spring and may be secured on the flange of the fastening plate by screwing, rivetting or clamping.

In the preferred embodiment, the radius of curvature of the sliding is surfaces of the base plate is greater than the radius of rotation of the detent projections of the rocker with the pivot point of the rocker as the origin.

Disengagement of the detent projections from the sliding surfaces, is thereby arrested providing a self-locking action which prevents accidental release of the fastening plate from the base plate.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a furniture hinge in an assembled state; Figure 2 is a top plan view of a base plate of the furniture hinge; Figure 2a is a longitudinal sectional view of the base plate; Figure 2b is a rear end view of the base plate; Figure 3 is an under plan view of a fastening plate of the furniture hinge; Figure 3a is a longitudinal sectional view of the fastening plate; Figure 3b is a rear elevation of the fastening plate, shown partly in cross section; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of a rocker of the furniture hinge; Figure 4a is a top plan view of the rocker; Figure 4b is a front elevation of the rocker; Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating details of Figure 1; Figure 6 is a top plan view of a setting plate of the furniture hinge; Figure 6a is a longitudinal sectional view of the setting plate; Figure 6b is a view taken on the lines 6b - 6b of Figure 6; 4 Figure 6c is a view taken on the lines 6c - 6c of Figure 6; Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cover bracket of the furniture hinge; Figure 7a is a top plan view of the cover bracket; and Figure 8 shows a protective cap of the furniture hinge in longitudinal section, in under plan, and in cross-section.

- Figure 1 shows part of a side wall 48 of the body of a piece of furniture and part of a door 47 thereof, a base plate 1 of a furniture hinge having been secured to the side wall 48 by means of fasteners in the form of screws 51. When so secured to the wall 48, the base plate 1 is readily assembled to the remainder of the hinge and in particular to a fastening plate 11 thereof by clipping the plate 11 to the base plate 1, after hooking it onto the plate 1.

As shown in Figure 1, the hinge further comprises a hinge casing 53 anchored in the door 47 and from which project swivel arms 50 articulated to the casing 53 and to a cover bracket 44 (best seen in Figures 7 and 7a).

A setting plate 42 (best seen in Figures 6 to 6c) is secured to the bracket 44 by adjusting and fastening screws 20,22 (Figure 1). As shown in Figures 7 and 7a, the bracket 44 comprises lateral flanges 43 which cover the articulated parts of the arms 50.

The fastening plate 11 (best seen in Figures 3, 3a and 3b) is secured to the setting plate 42 on its side remote from the bracket 44 by means of a fastening and adjusting screw 21, as shown in Figure 1.

Before the door 47 is assembled to the side wall 48, the door 47 together with the casing 53, the hinge arms 50, the cover bracket 44, the setting plate 42 and the fastening plate 11, provide a hinge strap unit to be assembled to the base plate 1 already screwed to the side wall 48. To this end, the foward part 14 of the fastening plate 11 (see Figures 1, 3, 3a and 3b) has an inwardly directed, hook-shaped retaining surface 13 defined by a hook 15. 1 On its rearward part, the fastening plate 11 has an upstanding flange 49 on which a rocker 26 (Figures 1, 4, 4a and 4b) is resiliently mounted by means of a cylindrical spring clip 31, in the form of a sleeve, (Figures 1 and 5), engaged in a grove in the flange 49.

As shown in Figures 4 and 4b, the rocker 26 has curved or bent over detent shoulders 34 comprising lateral gripping and detent projections 36 and defining a sliding surface 35.

As shown in Figures 2, 2a and 2b, the base plate 1 has upwardly curved sliding surfaces 7 each defining a rear radius of curvature 6, and a slide radius of curvature 8 at its rear end.

As shown in Figure 2a, the forward part of the base plate 1 is formed with an upwardly directed tapered surface 3 from which extend opposite lateral projections 4 having lateral facets 40.

- The hinge strap unit, is assembled to the base plate 1 by way of the fastening plate 11, in the following manner:

The hook-shaped surface 13 of the fastening plate 11 is hooked over the forward tapered surface 3 of the base plate 1, the projections 4 with their facets 40, of the base plate 1 sliding along flanges 17 of the fastening plate 11 (see Figures 3 and 3a) and finally entering rear end recesses 16 of the fastening plate 11.

The rocker 26 (best seen in Figures 4, 4a and 4b) is mounted on the rear end part of the fastening plate 11 so that its sliding surface 35 slides on the slide radii 8 of the sliding surfaces 7 upon engaging the fastening plate 11 on the base plate 1, until the projections 36 of the rocker 26 finally bear from below on the sliding surfaces 7 of the base plate 1 (Figure 5) as the clipping-on operation progresses. The assembly of the hinge strap unit to the body wall 48 is thereby simply and reliably achieved.

As shown in Figures 4, 4a, 4b and 5, the rocker 26 has a bent-over or curved gripping flange 29 passing through an opening 30 in the flange 49 of the fastening plate 11, and being resiliently held therein by the spring clip 31.

The rocker 26 is thereby simply and resiliently mounted to the fastening plate 11, and provides on the upwardly curved flange 49, a pivot point 38 for the projections 36 which have a radius of rotation 39 as they engage the curved sliding surfaces 7 of the base plate 1. The radius of curvature 6 of the sliding surfaces 7 on the base plate 1 is accordingly the radius of rotation 39 of the projections 36, with the centre of rotation 38 of the rocker 26 as the origin.

An advantageous self-locking action is thereby obtained in respect of forces acting in the direction of opening of the hinge, that is to say, the projections 36 seize on the sliding surfaces 7 and may essentially be freed therefrom only after raising, in the direction of the arrow 41 in Figure 5, an operating rod or lever 28 projecting from the rocker 26.

6 Upon such release of the rocker 26, a curved shoulder 37 thereof is pivoted in the direction of the arrow 56 in Figure 5 whereby the detent projections 36 can be lifted off from the sliding surfaces 7 and the hinge strap unit freed by disengaging the hook 15 from the base plate 1 at its tapered surface 3.

The projections 36 of the rocker 26 engage the respective sliding surface 7 of the base plate 1 approximately normally thereof. The seizing of the projections 36 on the surfaces 7 is thereby assisted in conjunction with forces originating from the centre of rotation 38, when the hinge is loaded, so that the projections 36 dig more firmly into the surfaces 7.

Tapered surfaces 9 at the rearward end of the base plate 1 (see Figures 1, 2a and 5) are brought to bear on mating inclined contact surfaces 23 (Figures 3a) at the rearward end of the fastening plate 11. Upon clipping the fastening plate 11 to the base plate 1, the tapered surfaces 9 of the base plate 1 engage the contact surfaces 23 of the fastening plate 11 to provide a supplemental seizing action between fastening plate 11 and the base plate 1 to restrain relative shifting thereof in longitudinal direction.

The rocker 26 may be made inherently resilient in particular in the manner of a flexing or thigh spring. Leaf springs or thigh springs may also be installed in the longitudinal direction for engagement behind the hinge elements, that is to say, the base plate and the fastening plate, upon their being clipped together.

As shown in Figures 2, 2a and 2b, the rear part of the base plate 1 is formed with a recess 10 between the sliding surfaces 7, which receives a neck 54 of the rocker 26 upon the base plate 1 being clipped to the fEL4tening plate 11. The projections 36 of the detent shoulders 34 of the rocker 26 which project laterally away therefrom, contacting the sliding surfaces 7 of the base plate 1, frc.m below.

Similarly, the fastening plate 11 is formed with a recess 24 for receiving the neck 54 of the rocker 26, the lateral extensions 23 projecting from the rear end of the fastening plate 11 providing tapered contact surfaces behind which the tapered surfaces 9 of the base plate 1 car engage.

The fastening plate 11 has a smocth underside 11 which bears in full surface to surface contact on the upper surface 12 of the base plate 1, for high force transmission.

The cover bracket 44 has openings 45 and 46 (Figure 7) in the form of elongated holes, through which the fastening and adjusting s crews 20, 22 7 are passed, as shown in Figure 1, so that in cooperation with the fastening and adjusting screw 21 which is passed through a transverse slot 55 in the setting plate 42 (Figures 6 and 6a) ard screw guides 33 therein, the furniture hinge can be adjusted for height, depth and inclination.

The fastening plate 11 is screwed to the base plate 1 by means of the adjusting and fastening screw 21 which passes through a tapped guide 19 in the plate 11 (Figures 3a and 3b).

A protective cap 52 (Figure 8) which is clipped onto the cover bracket 44 as shown in Figure 1, is prcvided to cover the fastening and adjusting screws 20, 21 and 22.

It will be apparent from Figure 5 that the projections 36 bear on the sliding surfaces 7 of the base plate 1 approximately at right angles to the surfaces 7 and, in particular, that the projections 36 point in the direction of the centre of rotation 38 of the rocker 26, i.e. in the direction of possible tractive stress thereby restraining leverage from acting on the engaged hinge elerrents in a direction tending to disengage: them.

In the furniture hinge described above, there is a self-locking action opposing disengagement of the projections 36 frcm the sliding surfaces 7 in combination with the spring force of the sleeve spring 31, so that the base plate 1 is reliably connected to the rerraining hinge elerrents, the furniture hinge being, nevertheless, of sirnple construction. Since the hinge elements are assembled substantially in a vertical direction, especially in the case of the assembly of the plate 11 to the base plate 1, the fitting Of the doc.r 47 to the furniture body side wall 48 is facilitated, substantially, and ccstly guideways for the fastening plate and the base plate are not needed.

8

Claims

1. A furniture hinge having a detent mechanism for engaging a hinge strap of a furniture hinge with a base plate thereof, the furniture hinge comprising a connecting easing for fastening to a door of a piece of furniture, articulated arms projecting from said casing and having a cover bracket installed on free end parts of said arms, and a setting plate and a fastening plate screwed to the cover bracket with the fastening plate remote therefrom, said base plate being secured to the body of the piece of furniture; wherein the fastening plate has a hook-shaped retaining surface at one end thereof in forced locking engagement with a tapered surface of the base plate, a resiliently mounted rocker at the other end of the fastening plate having detent shoulders curved away from that end and being provided with detent projections bearing against sliding surfaces of the base plate, which are curved up towards the fastening plate.

2. A furniture hinge according to claim 1, wherein that the rocker has a curved gripping flange extending through an opening in a flange of the fastening plate and being resiliently held in the opening by a spring.

3. A furniture hinge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an outward projecting operating handle is provided on the rocker.

4. A furniture hinge according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the detent projections of the rocker impinge on the sliding surfaces of the base plate approximately normally of said sliding surfaces.

5. A furniture hinge according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the base plate has tapered end surfaces which bear against inclined associated contact surfaces of the fastening plate.

6. A furniture hinge according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the base plate has opposite lateral projections at its forward end which engage in recesses in the fastening plate.

7. A furniture hinge according to claim 6, wherein each lateral projection of the base plate has a lateral facet, for sliding along a lateral flange of the fastening plate as the fastening plate is engaged with the base plate.

8. A furniture hinge according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the ends of the sliding surfaces of the base plate are formed as sliding radii.

9 9. A furniture hinge according to claim 1, wherein the rocker is resiliently constructed as a flexing or thigh spring and is fastened to a flange of the fastening plate.

10. A furniture hinge according to claim 1, wherein the radius of curvature of the sliding surfaces of the base plate is greater than the radius of rotation of the detent projections of the rocker with the axis of rotation of the rocker as the origin.

11. - A furniture hinge substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Published 19SE a. The Patent Offm Sim, House. 6P 71' PLC_ Hc'b:m. London M7C1P, 4TT- F,:r-hc7, copies inay be obtalr.eA frc,.- The Paten. 0-ice